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Terrorism threat is real in Canada: Public Safety Minister Vic Toews

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews is commending the RCMP for arresting two suspects allegedly involved in planning a terror attack against a Via Rail passenger train. Toews says the government is staying vigilant.(The Canadian Press)

OTTAWA—The break-up of a plot to attack a passenger train is a stark reminder that terrorism remains a real threat in Canada, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews says.

Speaking Monday soon after the RCMP broke news of the arrests, Toews praised the Mounties, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the FBI and other security agencies for their collaboration on the case.

“Today’s arrests demonstrate that terrorism continues to be a real threat to Canada,” Toews told reporters on Parliament Hill.

“The success of Operation Smooth is due to the fact that Canada works very closely with international partners to combat terrorism,” he said.

“Canada will not tolerate terrorist activity and we will not be used as a safe haven for terrorists or those who support terrorist activity,” Toews said.

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He said terrorism offences would be prosecuted “to the full extent of Canadian law.”

The break-up of a plot to attack a VIA passenger train is a stark reminder that terrorism remains a real threat in Canada, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said Monday. (Justin Tang / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Police said the suspects had been watching trains and railways in the Greater Toronto Area and were conspiring to derail a passenger train. (Tony Bock / Toronto Star file photo)

David Jacobson, the U.S. ambassador in Canada, added his praise to officials on both sides of the border for the arrests.

“These arrests were the result of extensive cross-border cooperation, which is the hallmark of our relationship,” he said in a statement.

“This is an example of the United States and Canada working together to protect our citizens. It underscores the fact that we face serious and real threats, and that security is a shared responsibility,” he said.

“We all need to remain vigilant in confronting threats and keeping North America safe and secure,” Jacobson said.

Toews boasted that the Conservative government had already taken steps to bolster the legislative and operational framework of Canadian security agencies to carry out anti-terror investigations.

And word of the arrests came the same day that the Commons debated further steps to give authorities even broader powers to investigate potential terror cells but at the possible expense of civil liberties.

The Combating Terrorism Act would renew powers introduced after the terror attacks of 9/11 but had lapsed under a sunset clause. This includes giving police the power to preventively arrest people without a warrant. It would allow investigative hearings that would force people with potential knowledge of a terrorism offence to tell what they know.

The proposed law would also make it a crime to leave Canada to aid a terrorist group abroad.

The fact the arrests came the same day of the debate raised a few eyebrows on Parliament Hill but Liberal and NDP MPs were reluctant to accuse the Tories or the RCMP of deliberating staging the announcement of the alleged terror plot.

“It’s a little bit odd that we’re having it the same day,” said NDP MP Jack Harris.

“I would certainly hope the minister of public safety didn’t seek an announcement of this kind but I wouldn’t want to impugn the motives of the RCMP,” Harris said.

Harris said the fact that the arrests are the first ever related to an Al Qaeda-supported attack in Canada is alarming but stressed that such arrests are “extremely rare.”

“I don’t think people need to be fearful. We are happy to see the RCMP doing their work and that work being effective,” Harris said.

Liberal MP Francis Scarpaleggia said he hoped that police agencies would make their announcements according to their own “imperatives and timetables.”

He said the Liberals backed the provisions in the legislations, saying the party swayed by the appeals of law enforcement officials who said they needed the new powers to do their jobs.

“We were told by experts who study and profile the average terrorist . . . that these are important measures,” he said.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau voiced his appreciation to police for disrupting the terror plot but said little more after stirring controversy last week.

“This is the kind of work that the men and women of Canadian law enforcement agencies need to continue doing . . . they have our thanks and our full support in that,” Trudeau said Monday afternoon.

It was a more restrained response than his reaction last week to the Boston Marathon bombings and his call to search out “root causes,” a comment that put him in the crosshairs of the Conservatives.

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